Christmas Run

Wasn't sure what to expect this morning. I've had two calf injuries in the last 5 weeks which have really stifled my training. I ran once this week (Thursday) , a slow 4 miles just to make sure that I could run without limping. Since I hadn't signed up and wasn't sure that I'd even be able to run, I decided that I was goint to "bandit" the race.
Now, normally I don't advocate banditing races, but when I do, it's just a fitness test for me, I don't cross the finish line, and I don't take any of the post race food or drink or anything like that. I just use it as an opportunity to run hard against some other folks.

After warming up for about a mile and opting for racing flats instead of spikes as the roads were pretty bare, I took off with a pack of 3 or 4 other guys. I felt like I was working pretty hard, so when we got to the mile marker and it read 5:38 for me I thought, "Holy schnikes, this shouldn't feel this hard". A couple of more guys passed me and I settled into 6th and was just trying to focus on my form and not falling completely apart. With about a half mile to go I could sense the guys in front of me slowing and I worked my way up to 5th, which is where I ended up.

I ran 14:37, a 5:50 per mile average for the 2.5 miles. That might be easy to handle for a lot of people, but when you've run 5:33 pace for a half marathon and 5:59 pace for a full marathon, I could definitely tell that my fitness was lacking. I do think that the race actually helped stretch out my calf, because it does feel quite a bit better. Monica dug into it last night and worked out all of the knots and that helped too. Thanks, Monica ! On a brighter note, I did notice that my time was only 6 seconds off of last year's winning time, I got to burn some competitive juices, and I think that my calf will allow me to start training normally again.

Next race up should be the New Year's Day 5K, where I'll at least shoot for 17:30 (5:37 pace), and go from there. One step at a time.

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me while I was injured and grouchy ( ;

Dave

the comeback trail

After nursing my calf injury for the last three weeks, but making it through my 2 X 2 mile legs in the Rubber Chicken Relay without incident I decided that it was time to test out my calf by working on some speed. We were slated to do 10 X 2 dots (two tenths of a mile or 322 meters each) with one dot (one tenth of a mile) recovery. Since I had Eric to run with (or chase,depending on how you look at it) the workout went pretty well. I wanted to run all of these in 60 seconds each (5:00 mile pace).
I went 61.36, 58.96, 60.38, 59.29, 58.92, 60.51, 60.67, 61.14, 61.53, 58.62, so I averaged 60.13. I definitely was going lactic by about the 7th one and just trying to keep my form. Eric was maintaining a bit better and when we decided to 'blow out the pipes" on the last one I think that he must have ran about a :55. Not bad for a couple of 41 year old guys ! At any rate, it was a solid workout and I had no problems with my calf.
Am really looking forward to the 5K in Memphis on Saturday. I hope to run under 17:00 (5:28 pace), so we'll see how things go. Just happy to be healthy and headed in the right direction !!

frustration reigns supreme

After doing a pretty solid fartlek workout on November 11th I was warming down and felt a major twinge in my right calf. I thought that it was odd that it happened at the end of my workout and as I was warming down, but who knows how these things happen. The next day I couldn't even walk without limping. I tried to get out Friday night and run a bit, but again, I couldn't run without limping. After some fairly aggressive massage therapy by Monica on Saturday and a couple of more days of rest I was able to do some easy running on Tuesday the 18th.

I guess jumping right into it after an injury by running 7 miles might not have been the best idea. Running last night (Thursday the 20th) felt OK through about 3.5 miles and then my calf started to gradually tighten up again until I was almost limping again by the end of the run. After icing it last night, more ibuprofen and massaging the heck out of it, it feels pretty normal again, but I'm afraid that will be short lived.

As of right now I'll have Monica dig into it tonight with some aggressive massage to loosen it up and then give things a go at the Turkey Trot tomorrow. If I can get through that and hopefully a decent 20 miler on Sunday, I'll at least be confident that I can get through the marathon that I'm supposed to run 15 days from now...

Funny how being injured can affect your psyche. Sometimes running's like a drug. If you don't get your fix it sure leaves you craving it.

Weekend workout/tempo

I got to Richland Saturday afternoon, still sleep deprived and after a 5 hour drive. I decided to get out for 4 miles to shake the cobwebs off of my legs and threw in some pickups on that run. It didn't feel horrible, but wasn't great either.
I really didn't want to get out of bed on Sunday morning, but I forced myself to do it and I knew that if I was going to get in a decent workout that I'd have to have someone to run with. I ate a piece of toast with butter and jam, a couple of swigs of Vitamin water and about half of a can of flat Pepsi from the night before.
I ran an easy one mile warm up and stretched out and felt surprisingly OK. My original plan was to run the first 20 miles of the race (Tri Cities Marathon) and then bag it. My head cold that I'd caught earlier in the week and the lack of a ride back to my car made me revise my plan.
It was a clear cool morning, perfect for running. When the gun went off I assessed the situation and found the guy who was leading the marathon (there was one marathon relay team ahead of us) and started talking to him. His name was Dan, he was from Portland and his goal was to run 'fast enough to win'. We talked a bit for the next few miles and we were clicking off miles at 6:07 to 6:08 (about 2:41 pace)with remarkable consistency. I decided at about the 5 mile marker that I would go to 7 miles and then jog back to the car, giving me a 15 mile day. Dan and I hit 7 miles in 42:55 (6:08 pace) and I ran back to the car at between 6:40-7:00 pace. My half marathon split according to the Garmin was 1:25:33 and I felt pretty decent about that.
I didn't have any problems with my breathing or anything else because of the head cold, and that surprised me a bit. I am still waking up stuffed up every day and am coughing up nasty gunk, but am feeling better than it was.
I am planning on running an easy 6 miles before the Zeitgeist race and then running the course as a tempo run, hopefully around 6:15 pace. Only 5 1/2 weeks to Memphis !

testing my resolve

Sunday's 18 miler left me feeling a little beat up, so I opted not to run on Monday. Tuesday's workout was slated to be 6 X 1/2 mile with two dot (two tenths of a mile) recovery.Although I felt really sluggish warming up, once I got going I felt OK. I ran 2:39, 2:38, 2:36, 2:36, 2:36, and 2:34. My goal was to average 2:37 (5:14 mile pace) on these and I did, and I also got faster on each one. That was the most solid tempo workout that I've done in a while.

After dinner that night I started to get a dull headache and felt achy. I did get up to run Hulls Gulch (8- miles) on Wednesday with Derek and Monica, but by that afternoon things had progressed to a full blown head cold. I am currently feeling weak and achy and am coughing up neon green gunk. Good times. I guess that this will teach me to take better care of myself and to start getting some rest. It will only be easy running for the next couple of days and hopefully I'll be OK by Sunday.On the bright side, I'm glad that I got sick now as opposed to the week of the marathon !

Barber to Boise weekend

Let me preface this blog by saying that I didn't get nearly enough sleep this week. Between celebrating my divorce being final on Tuesday, Monica's Birthday #1 on Thursday and Monica's Birthday #2 on Friday, I was running on fumes.

Beautiful day for Barber to Boise. Ran into Jon Hancock before the race and warmmed up with him, which I enjoyed immensely. We always have some good laughs and crack each other up. My legs felt decent enough and after my 1 AM snack of blueberry Pop Tarts and Powerade, I only had a mocha for breakfast before the race.

I knew that it was going to be a fast race as there were a contingent of young guys there and the Greater Boise guys as well. The gun went off and I found myself feeling decent, but only in about 15th place a half mile into the race. At that point I started racing and picking off some guys. I hit the mile in 5:24 (slower than I thought that it would be) and was probably in 12th or so. I continued to feel decent and picked off a couple more guys and hit the two mile mark in 10:59. At that point I was starting to feel some fatigue in my quads and the lack of sleep and the mental effort of racing escaped me. I was just putting one foot in front of the other at that point. I held my position though and no one caught me, so I ended up 10th overall and was the first runner over the age of 40 (actually would have won the 35-39 age group as well) in 17:14.9 (5:33 per mile average).Liz had come to watch the finish, so after the awards we ran back to her car, so all together I got in an 8mile day. I wisely went home Saturday and crashed by 11 and slept like the dead.

Sunday morning dawned clear and cool and I met Derek at his place in Garden City and we were quickly on the green belt.He ran the first 13 miles with me where we averaged about 6:45 pace. I dropped the pace after he quit, running 6:16, 6:22, and 6:30 pace. The Garmin measured the distance at 18.54 miles, but I'm going to call it 18.0 miles in 2:00:59. if that's the case I averaged 6:43 pace which bodes well. I felt decent and finished strong.My quads feel a little beat up this afternoon, but that's normal.

Planning on doing the first 20 miles of the Tri Cities Marathon next Sunday. That will be a good indicator of my fitness.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support.

Dave

The last few days

It's been a pretty decent last few days. I ran an easy 13 with Murali on Saturday morning before hopping in the Garden City 5K and ended up pacing a gal through the first 2 miles at about 6:00 pace before she had to back off. Ended up calling that a 16 mile day, although it was probably a bit more than that. Sunday I set out to do 10 miles and my first mile was about 6:20, which felt pretty comfortable, my next couple of miles got faster, down to the 6:14-6:15 range and I held that through about 4 miles until I happened upon the Derkacs brothers, Derek and David, and ran about 4 miles with them at maybe 6:45 to 7:00 pace, I then dropped the pace back down to about 6:10-6:15 for the next couple of miles and added a 1/2 mile cool down to make an 11 mile day.
Tuesday I set out to do 10 X 3 dots with 1 dot recovery. I wanted them to be all at about 5:00 mile pace (1:30 each). I went 1:29, 1;31, 1:32, 1:34, 1:32 and 1:34 before I decided to cut it short. I did another 2 dot section in :55 (about 4:40 pace) to make 2 miles worth of repeats and a solid warm down of 3 + miles. I need to work more on my lactate threshhold as I was going lactic way too early in those shorter intervals. I realized the mental strain of trying to run that fast on my own and it's just taxing. If I had someone to chase or run with it certainly would have been more bearable.
This morning Monica, Derek and I did Hulls Gulch with the big uphill add on at the end. My quads were SCREAMING at me as I was climbing. I could definitely feel the lactic acid from yesterday's workout. Hopefully my legs will 'freshen up' over the next couple of days and I'll be ready to rip on Saturday for the race.

City of Trees Half Marathon and Stupidity

The day dawned with gorgeous weather for the race. After a couple of pieces of toast and jam and an Irish Creme mocha I felt ready to roll. Although my stomach felt a little queasy warming up it seemed to settle by race time. My goal going into the race was 1:19:58 (6:06 per mile average) and I settled in well right away. My first mile was a 6:06, then a 6:07, my next two miles were covered in 12:13, and I was feeling decent. I had started out in 4th position overall and had moved into 3rd by 2 miles and I decided that I was going to be in 2nd place by 5 miles, and I was. It was shortly after that that I got passed and was back into 3rd again and that's where I sort of settled in. I hit 6 miles in 37:02 after hitting a bad patch in the 5th mile where I felt like I was going to dry heave, but I managed to settle in and fight that off. I hit 8 miles in 49:25 (6:10 pace) and then ran 12:11 for the next 2 miles to hit 10 in 1:01:36 (6:09 average).

It was shortly after this that everything went to hell. The 2nd place guy, me, and the 4th place guy all missed the turn and went straight on the marathon course. When I wasn't seeing the finish line at the 13 mile mark I knew something was wrong. At about the 14 mile mark I saw that the guy ahead of me had completely stopped and was talking to the volunteers. At that point a motorcycle cop also came up to us and said "I think that you guys went the wrong way." We followed the motorcyce cop and headed back in the direction of the actual finish line. We were both pretty chapped at this point that we were going to end up running 15+ miles. After talking to the race director afterward,we wondered why no one was there at a major point in the race to tell us where to turn. He wasn't willing to do anything as far as changing the results, even though it was OBVIOUS that we would have finished 2nd (1:19:XX), 3rd (1:20:XX) and 4th (1:21:XX) overall. The next time that finished was 1:27.

So, lesson learned. Don't run tiny races with poor organization, and if you do, make damn sure that you know where you're going. This would have been my fastest half marathon in 4 1/2 years. Instead I get nothing but disappointment and frustration.

Other people ran well. Theresa ran a PR of 1:52:08, Jamie ran 1:48:52, which I believe was also a PR for her and Laurel ran 1:34 and change.

Congrats to Monica and Scotty and Liz for all kicking butt at Portland !

I am recovering well, just need to catch up on my sleep !

Next goal: Barber to Boise 10K in 35:58 (5:47 pace)

Autism Awareness 5K

A beautiful morning for a race....that is, for anyone who has gotten enough sleep in the last week to function like a normal person !
At any rate, Monica wanted to get a long run in today, but due to some delay in registering for the race we had to cut it short, so we only managed to sneak in 6 miles before the race. Mind you, in my 27 year running career, I have NEVER done a 6 mile warm up. I told Monica that I am starting to question her sanity...
The race went OK. They had a really good turnout, although most of the people were there for the cause and not to be competitive. I like races that are low key though every once in a while because there's no pressure and you can just go out and race the clock. My first mile was OK, I hit 5:17, I slowed and by the turnaround was only averaging 5:29 pace. At this point I started to feel hunger pains (as I'm sure that I had burned up my breakfast of Fruity Pebbles and an Irish cream mocha on our 6 mile "warm up") and I pretty much backed off to 6:00 mile pace after that. I finished in 17:49 and Monica was 2nd overall in 19:19. Of course we had to do ANOTHER 2 miles afterward, so we got in an 11 mile day. Good old fashioned fun. That's what that is.

Scotty (of "Scotty Doesn't Know !" fame) ran well today, a few ticks under 21:00 and looked ready for tackling his first marathon next Sunday. Portland is a great marathon for first timers and I'm sure that Scotty will kick some butt ! Knock 'em dead, kid !

Looking forward to running the City of Trees half marathon next Sunday. Two goals: run under 1:20 (6:06 per mile average) and to win the Masters age group.

Thanks to Mike, Kevin and Liz for cheering us on this morning !!

Run With the Animals

I felt decent warming up for the race and very relaxed through what read as a 5:18 first mile. I had to assume that the first mile was a bit long or something because the Greater Boise guys didn't even go sub 5, so i was a little surprised. I felt decent through the second loop even though I lost contact and ny the 3rd and longest loop I could tell that I was really struggling. My leg speed is decent right now and my edurance is too, I just need to work on putting everything together. I ended up running 17:40, but we all sort of came to the conclusion that the course was long, so who knows what kind of an effort it was.

My next race is the Run for Autism 5K next Saturday and I'd definitely like to dip back under 17:00 again. Hopefully the course is accurate.

It was great to see all of the ladies mix it up at the Women's Fitness Celebration yesterday. Although those weren't exactly PR conditions the ladies all ran well.

Inspiration

This is one of my favorite speeches, taken from Theodore Roosevelt's 'Citizenship in a Republic' speech. I think that this is pertinent to anyone who is out there training for a marathon (or any race, for that matter), putting out the effort. we all suffer setbacks and personal defeats, but this validates the effort that we all put forth. Anyway, we all could use some inspiration, and this is good stuff. This is hanging on my refrigerator.



It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat

Finally ! My legs feel like my legs again !

Despite a bit of soreness from yesterday's workout, I needed to get out and get some fresh blood going to my muscles, so I set out to do my 4.5 mile loop, which is basically the Air Force Appreciation days course with the residential area loop cut off of it. Taking off I actually felt decent and was intent to cruise along and feel relaxed. It was the same wind that we experienced during the race. As I hit the 2 1/4 mile mark (the start of the bike path)averaging about 6:30 pace, I started watching my splits as I had the wind at my side and back. I ran my next 3/4 miles at about 6:00 pace and then the next mile (mile 4 of the race course) in 5:49. Now considering that I ran those actual miles during the race in 6:16 and 6:12, I was pretty pleased to now be running 6:03 and 5:49. Let's just say that I felt a hell of a lot better tonight and I wasn't even pushing the pace. I shut it down and cruised the last 3/4 mile as a 'cool down' and stretched afterward. Still a little sore, but encouraging stuff.
I rewarded myself by making a cheeseburger and washing it down with a Pepsi and a chocolate shake (not to mention a couple of mini Snickers bars). Easy running tomorrow and Friday and Saturday I tear up the 5K at the 'Run With the Animals'. Looking forward to it !

Medical and dietary marvels

Never underestimate the healing power of chocolate milk !

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/24/health/webmd/main1342839.shtml

http://www.indiana.edu/~hplab/research/chocolate_milk_as_a_post_exercise_recovery_aid.html

10 x 300

after being talked into running this workout on the track, I already wasn't having any fun.It seems like evry time that I've stepped on a track lately that the wind has been blowing in my face and this was no exception. I started out my first one on pace (:49), then :53, :53, :53, :54, :54, :54, :55, :56, and :49. Since I wanted to run these in :51 (equivalent to :68 second 400's or 4:32 mile pace) let's just say that I wasn't really pleased. This workout felt a lot harder than it should have. My legs have felt really tired since the Payette Lake 30K and they felt like lead today. I'm hoping that a couple of more easy days and some extra sleep will get me back to normal.

Next race : Run With The Animals 5K, goal 16:40

Air Force Appreciation Days 5 miler

Augh! While I was glad to get the win, the weather conditions and the condition of my quadriceps were not conducive to running a fast time. I was definitely still feeling the aftermath of the Payette Lake 30K combined with a lack of sleep. Cool plaques for winning though, and I got to get my picture taken with Miss Idaho (who Liz is still convinced is pregnant). Whoop a dee doo !

It was really cool to have everyone make the trip out to Mountain Home Sweet Home for the race. Team Apex kicked some serious butt, we have some seriously fast women in our group ! Looking foward to seeing all of you ladies tear it up at the Women's Fitness Celebration 5K on the 20th. Post race 'Fizzy Navels' shall be the theme of the day ( :

Looking for redemption

As most of you may know the Payette Lake 30K was a pretty big disappointment for me,so I am really looking forward to tonight's Air Force Appreciation Days 5 miler here in Mountain Home. Not only have I put a lot of pressure on myself, but it seems like all of the local runners have picked me as the 'ringer' to win.
My legs feel like they're somewhat recovered from Sunday, although still not 100%. I did just finish my pre-race meal of a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with cheese and a chocolate shake, so stomach issues won't be a problem.
Looking forward to racing up the 'Union Jack' shoes and tearing it up. Goal is to run under 28:30, although sub 28:00 would be even better !

It will be cool because I think about 7 or 8 of the people on our team are coming out to run also.
How many people want to kick some ass !?!?

Dave

Payette Lake and my quest for redemption

The race went as planned in the early going. I ran with the leaders through about 4 miles when I decided to let them go. I was solidly in 4th place overall at that point and continued to average about 6:15 pace through 8 miles, despite some nasty headwinds. At some point in the 12th mile all of the lactic acid that I'd generated got into my stomach and I started dry heaving. I finally had to stop and throw up 3 or 4 times. At that point I continued running, but was really struggling to get my rythym back. I started talking walk breaks and that was the worst thing that I could have done. I just completely broke down at that point. I tried to alternate walking and running the rest of the way, I was mostly just intent on finishing at that point. The sad thing is that I still ended up 2nd in my age group and wasn't that far behing the winner of my age group. I'm pretty sure that he'd passed me in the last mile as I was walking. Had I known, I would have tried to suck it up and beat him, but it wasn't to be.

The floor on the condo was not conducive to sleeping well and I went from being sleep deprived to exhausted over the weekend. My quads are very sore and I just hope that I can recover enough to run well on Friday for a bit of redemption.

Other than the race, the weekend was a blast. It was really cool getting to hang out with everyone and getting to know them better. Scott and I bonded over Will Ferrell humor, Liz and I discovered that we are unbeatable as a team at board games and trivia games, and we discovered that Monica is a conisseur of the drink now known as 'The Fizzy Navel'.

Everyone kicked ass at the race and I am really glad to count you all among my friends. See you all soon. Happy trails !

Dave

dashing on dots

First of all, I need to work on my punctuality. The drive time from Mountain Home to Boise is always a crap shoot, you never know how long it's going to take. Today I was late and that resulted in an abbreviated warm up. I ran 4 X 5 dots, or equal to 4 X 1/2 mile with 2 dots (.2 miles) recovery. I went 2:34, 2:36, 2:37, 2:39 for a 2:36 average. I started out way too fast on the first one and had dry heaves toward the end of the 3rd one. I was content with the day, but would like them to all be sub 2:30 and a little more consistent next time. Legs aren't too beat up tonight, but I'm a little sleep deprived, so I need to work on that.

Looking forward to the 30K race on Sunday. The McMillan calculator estimates that I can run 1:53:56 (6:07 pace) based on my current fitness and projects a 2:44:06 marathon. So, I will shoot for that as my goal. If all goes well at Payette Lake it will be on to the City of Trees Marathon on October 5th and possibly the Memphis Marathon on Dec.6th, where I'll likely be gunning to run under 2:40.

I'm off to get the most out of my potential 5 1/2 hours of sleep......

Happy trails to everyone.

Dave

racing and the pilgrimage to Eugene

I flew into Portland on Saturday night and watched a bit of the Olympics and tried to get some sleep. The race was scheduled for 9 AM and it was uncharacteristically warm and humid, so I opted to go shirtless, which I really only do if it's really warm. I thought that I knew where I was going (but didn't, of course),so we only got there about 20 minutes before the start. After an abbreviated warm-up. We were ready to go. I saw Portland area master's ace Joe Dudman there and knew that I would have my hands full, as he is always in the mix. Lots of weird twists and turns (and even some stairs) to navigate in this race, so it was definitely interesting. I actually felt decent and pretty relaxed through the first mile, which was about 5:18 for me. I lost contact with the leaders soon after that and was left chasing them the rest of the way. I ended up running 16:50 to take 4th overall and was the second masters runner behind the affore-mentioned Mr.Dudman. I wasn't displeased with my time, all things considered, but hope to be under 16:30 within a month or so (to take down the master's course record of 16:45 at the 'Run for the Animals' on September 13th).

My training is going well and I am looking forward to the Payette Lake 30K on Labor Day weekend. If that goes well I am strongly considering the City of Trees Marathon on October 5th.

I am really excited to be a part of Team Apex and I hope that my experience proves to be helpful to others !

Welcome!

Welcome Coach Dave!

We are excited to be running with you! Your expertise as a collegiate cross country coach and your personal experience will be an asset to the TEAM!

Coaches have running goals too, feel free to utilize this Log for your "online training log"... we can all learn from you!

As a Coach for TEAM APEX, we are excited to share the responsibility and accountability for training TEAM APEX participants in the Boise area! We feel your background will be a great addition to the training programs at all levels from 5K to Marathon events. We look forward to developing and improving training programs with you. Specific shared responsibilities include: assisting with planning, coordinating and leading effective training of participants across fitness levels; ensuring the safety of participants; assisting with coordinating training clinics to provide participants with training knowledge; and assisting with overseeing all training practices as well as participation at the events, and providing motivational support and assisting with participant recruitment to ensure a successful season. We thank you, Dave, for your support of TEAM APEX!

Monica Runningwolf